Christmas No. 2, 3, and 4 (Sorry, just a little late)

We made the trek to Southern Illinois the weekend after Christmas to see our families. It was a quick trip (headed down on Saturday morning and back up on Sunday afternoon), but was enjoyable. The kids went from house to house opening gifts. Needless to say, they had a great weekend. Click here to see more pictures from the Southern Illinois Christmas.

Mr. October - Student of the Month

Brandon was selected as Student of the Month for the month of October. His certificate he got said that he was recognized for displaying Responsibility, the Character Education principle of the month. Way to go Brandon!

Farmingdale Basketball League

Brandon started his basketball league at his grade school this Saturday. He is on the Illinois team and will play 6 games (Thursday nights and Saturday mornings) during the month of November. They played Minnesota this morning (same as the Illini did in football that night). He was a little timid in his first game and started getting into it more late in the game. They play 4 - 5 minute quarters and each player plays at least two quarters. There is a lot of action, but very little scoring. In the afternoon, we practiced out in the driveway to get ready for the next game!

Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat! This year Brandon was Jimmy Neutron and Brittany was a cheerleader for Halloween. They had looked forward to the night for weeks (maybe months). They were ready to go as soon as I got home from work. Angie waited a little bit before they headed out to make sure more people would be home. The kids ran (yes, ran) from door to door for the first half. Thankfully, they slowed down towards the end. Last year it was cold and the princess was ready to come back early. This year they made through the whole subdivision and made it to some of the new subdivision too. They both made it back with full baskets of candy, which should last us until Christmas. You can see a few other pictures from Halloween night here: View Album

Farmingdale Fall Fest

The kids had their Fall Fest parties (formally known as Halloween parties, but without costumes - welcome to the PC world). Mommy and Daddy both got to go, but Dad took Brittany home after she got out of school while Mom volunteered with Brandon's party. The picture above is the Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss game that I made for Brandon's party. I designed it myself and Angie made the bean bags for it. It was a big hit with the kids. If you want to see more pictures from the two parties, click here: View Album

Sun Sets on Tee Ball Season

Last Monday was the last tee ball game of the year. With the days getting shorter and the evenings getting cooler, you could tell that the season had to come to an end. Brandon loved playing tee ball this year and played very well. He had another put out in the last game to bring his total to three on the year. He is looking forward to playing basketball this winter and getting back on the tee ball diamond in the spring. He has really come to like baseball and enjoys watching baseball on TV with daddy and loves collecting baseball cards. To see some photos from the last game, click here: View Album

Weekend Visitors II/Tee Ball Game 7

Grandma and PaPa came up after the U of I football game on Saturday and stayed around to watch Brandon's tee ball game on Monday night. It was a cool night, but they got to see plenty of action in Brandon's game as he fielded a majority of the balls hit. He fielded 10 balls (his own count) in the three innings - has to be his personal record! In the first inning, he got almost every ball except a couple. In addition, he recorded his second out of the season (captured on video in the photo album linked below). Only one more game left for the year! You can view more pictures and video clips from Game 7 here: View Album

Play Ball!

Tee Ball Time! Brandon started playing T-ball for the first time this Fall. His friends Mason (pictured above) and Avery play on the same team (the Diamondbacks). They are all having a great time. Brandon really likes playing. He really hustles after the ball and was the first to record an out on the team (It occurred in the third game!). He fielded the ball around the shortstop position and ran to tag out the person running to third. Since you can tell there aren't many outs, each team bats through their line up each inning and the game lasts one hour (which is enough time for 2 or 3 innings). He is looking forward to playing again in the spring and wants to play basketball again this winter. Follow this link to see more photos from Tee Ball. View Album

Kindergarten is Kool! Pre-K is Pre-tty Kool 2!!

After 4 weeks of school, Brandon is giving Kindergarten rave reviews. According to Brandon, "Kindergarten is the coolest place in the world. If you are 5 or 6, you go there. It's the funnest place you're going to see!" I don't know if you can get a bigger endorsement than that. He really loves going to school and is learning a lot. His favorite things have been "learning about colors" (making little books that are songs to learn how to spell the colors) and "computer lab". He also says he enjoys homework (we'll see how long that lasts!).

Although not nearly as enthusiastic as Brandon is about school, Brittany likes Pre-K too! When asked about her thoughts on Pre-K, Brittany says "Good". Her favorite things at school are "playing on the playground and seeing my boyfriend". Since this is the first time I have heard of it, I asked her who it was. She says "I don't know his name". I think I might have to explore this one a little more! Maybe home schooling is not a bad option for her. Other than the infamous "bus incident", school as been going pretty smoothly for all involved!